When you hear about the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS for short), I may be inducing some sort of nightmarish recollection of time spent in a high school civics, American government, or politics class which many would rather forget. Personally, it should be rather clear that I absolutely love learning and informing others about the many cases and decisions passed down by the Supreme Court. This clearly makes me a nerd, and I am content with such a designation.
All jokes aside, there is no place in American Democratic life that the very way our word looks can change so drastically and abruptly than it does when the highest court in the land passes a decision. Unlike the divisiveness and bureaucratic nightmare that makes up the legislative branch, the judiciary can effectively change the way our country looks with one single decision. Whether or not I agree that such an expediency is advantageous for the democratic system can be discussed in another post.
When one considers the most pivotal and hotly contested Supreme Court cases of the last half-century, it is clear that one case stands above all else in its divisiveness. In 1971, the Supreme Court heard the first oral argument for Roe v. Wade, a landmark case which effectively set the stage and laid the groundwork for reproductive rights in the United States. In what went on the be a 7-2 decision in favor of the appellant (Jane Roe), this decision effectively held that a woman’s right to an abortion was protected by the right to privacy (Griswold v. Connecticut). On top of this, the ruling provided women a significant share of reproductive self-autonomy within the first trimester of a pregnancy and also set aside a new standard for the “point of viability” still in use today (as reaffirmed in Casey v. Planned Parenthood).
Okay, now that the boring parts are out of the way… why should you as a first-year in high school care about this case? For many of us here, the idea of women’s rights and a key concern of women’s advocacy groups evolved from this case. However your political or personal beliefs stand, this case definitely brought the importance of women-specific issues to the mainstream.
When I heard you say that you wrote about women’s reproductive choices, I was intrigued to read about what a male had to say. To my satisfaction, you stayed very factual and focused on only the events that happened. I was happy to see that you didn’t write with bias.
I personally care about this case because I am a woman, and this directly impacts my daily life. I think that for anyone in college, this topic can also include contraceptives and testing, so it is completely relevant for anyone.
Thank YOU.
Elie
I’d be curious to hear more about your personal opinions surrounding this case, although I’m sure that would invite a great deal of controversy. I was unaware that the justification for the ruling was connected to privacy in some form. That definitely sparked my interest in learning more about the nitty-gritty details surrounding the ruling. Considering how frequently this case has been discussed in recent months, I’d also be interested in hearing your take on the current threat to this ruling.